Music is the Strongest Form of Magic
❝MUSIC IS THE STRONGEST FORM OF MAGIC❞ | 11/04/2025 .ic date italic .thoughts #580803 .speech @ruth fairchild @avis marlong @devon wallen .mentions |
| _______ | Clément had once again been dazzled by the ancient grandeur of the Hogwarts Castle, despite his past visits to the Scottish school. The candle-lit hallways, the great oak doors and the suits of armour... everything was different from Beauxbâtons' spotless white tiles and fairy-tale aura. For a moment, he imagined going to school here - but immediately shook the thought off as he reminded himself of his poor English. Perhaps it's time to pay more attention in English class... Clément thought wearily. The Spring Soirée wasn't deemed particularly interesting by the French boy - it seemed to be rather crowded with people who were aiming to spend the night snogging each other. Clément quickly lost interest in the ball after he had tried a bit of each food as well as gulped down a few glasses of what appeared to be orange juice - no one could be so sure what it really was. He thought he would go back to the Beauxbâtons students' dormitories and work on that prelude he had been practicing. Finding his way to his quarters wasn't as easy as he thought. Clément knew that Hogwarts' staircases couldn't be trusted, but he was genuinely surprised when he realised the portraits moved around quite a lot as well. Finally, after a good twenty minutes of getting lost, the boy retrieved his cello and his bow from his dormitory. Finding the Beauxbâtons quarters rather busy, he opted for a more intimate space - not that he minded others hearing his music, he enjoyed the boasting privilege that came with it - and set out once again in the maze that was Hogwarts in hope of finding an empty classroom. If venturing alone in the dimly lit hallways was a bad idea, Clément was fortunate and only made the acquaintance of a depressive ghost and very talkative portrait. Soon he found himself in a corridor with doors at both sides, and hoping he would find what he wanted on the other side of a door, pushed one open. It was a surprise when he found himself in what looked like the interior of a cathedral. His gaze flickered to the ceiling and he absorbed the sight of the fancy chandelier hanging in the middle, surrounded by its own, glowing light. On the four walls, paintings could be seen, and from the dancers and musicians featured on the canvases, Clément realised that he must be in Hogwarts' ballroom. Why whoever hosted the ball had not chosen the ballroom as its location was a mystery to Clément, but he was so delighted by this discovery that he asked himself no further questions. Settling himself comfortable on a stool in the center of the ballroom - it made him feel very grand to perform in such a place, even if no one was there to actually listen to him - he pulled out the endpin, tuned the strings, then proceeded to rub some rosin on his bow. He let his bow slide across the strings, savouring the resonance of the notes all around him, as though picturing each vibration travelling the air and bouncing off the walls. Soon, he immersed himself in music, letting each phrase transport him into the magical realm that was his own. | _______ |
wc. 544
Elisa Wagner | Clément Guillaume Cantegrel
SHOP | GALLERY
sta 8 - eva 9 - str 4 - wis 7 - arc 9 - acc 9
SHOP | GALLERY
sta 8 - eva 9 - str 4 - wis 7 - arc 9 - acc 9
Music is the Strongest Form of Magic
Finally having slipped out from the ballroom, Avis quickly made her way up to the common room. This dress certainly felt pretty, yes, but pretty was not her top priority. Functionality came at number one, with comfort at a close second. She slipped into a tunic and leggings, but didn't bother to unbraid her hair. Pretty wasn't her top priotiy, but she wasn't going to go out of her way to avoid it either.
She ducked back out of the common room and headed down the stairs. Students who remained in the common room during a large social event were not the type of people she wanted to talk to right now. Portraits were much more entertaining. She meandered her way through endless stone corridors, ignoring the portraits adorning the halls, her feet falling confidently and quickly, discouraging any wayward students from approaching.
She crossed around the castle many times, savouring the empty hallways, a rare occurrence in Hogwarts, unless one was out past curfew, in which they generally didn't have to change to enjoy the castle. There was no chatter, no footsteps, no rushing students as the fought their way through the halls, only silence. Avis had long since learned to dismiss the portraits, they only served to shatter a girl's privacy. She was, finally, alone. Free to drop her shoulders, look down at her feet as her flats rolled over the floor. She ran her hand along the worn stone wall, humming gently to herself as she threaded her fingers around the grout. It took her much longer that it should have to realize that she was not humming an original song or one she knew, rather humming along to a faint melody echoing from the ballroom.
A small sigh escaped from Avis, as her pleasant, silent walk flew out the window.
But as she listened closer...it wasn't bad. It sounded like a cello, an instrument Avis hadn't heard in a while. It seemed like any student that played an instrument at Hogwarts either played piano or violin, Avis included. She didn't like to include herself in the category of "normal," and it wasn't as if she was, with her clarinet, sax, and trumpet, but she did play piano.
As she listened from just outside the ballroom, Avis found herself humming once again, this time not along with the melody, but as a harmony counter to it.
She didn't want to play such a bland instrument as a piano in front of such a grand piece of a cello, but she wasn't great at clarinet and it would take a genius much more musical than Avis to make a trumpet fit a cello. Alas, the piano it would have to be. She cracked open the grand doors to the ballroom just enough to slip inside. She offered a nod to the kid sitting on the stool in the middle of the room, before turning and offering a small curtesy to a small portrait of a ballerina along the walls.
She then crossed the room to the piano (of which I am taking the creative liberty of assuming Hogwarts has a piano) and settled herself into the bench, running her fingers along the keys until they found a good place to start. She closed her eyes a moment, allowing the music to stretch back into her brain, before starting a harmony countering the cellos melody.
It took a moment and a few wrong notes - which Avis winced at - to match the key and rythm of the cello, but once she found it, her fingers danced across the piano, softly playing, lifting the melody higher into the song as the music flowed throughout the large room.
@Ruth Fairchild, @Clément Guillaume Cantegrel, @Devon Wallen
She ducked back out of the common room and headed down the stairs. Students who remained in the common room during a large social event were not the type of people she wanted to talk to right now. Portraits were much more entertaining. She meandered her way through endless stone corridors, ignoring the portraits adorning the halls, her feet falling confidently and quickly, discouraging any wayward students from approaching.
She crossed around the castle many times, savouring the empty hallways, a rare occurrence in Hogwarts, unless one was out past curfew, in which they generally didn't have to change to enjoy the castle. There was no chatter, no footsteps, no rushing students as the fought their way through the halls, only silence. Avis had long since learned to dismiss the portraits, they only served to shatter a girl's privacy. She was, finally, alone. Free to drop her shoulders, look down at her feet as her flats rolled over the floor. She ran her hand along the worn stone wall, humming gently to herself as she threaded her fingers around the grout. It took her much longer that it should have to realize that she was not humming an original song or one she knew, rather humming along to a faint melody echoing from the ballroom.
A small sigh escaped from Avis, as her pleasant, silent walk flew out the window.
But as she listened closer...it wasn't bad. It sounded like a cello, an instrument Avis hadn't heard in a while. It seemed like any student that played an instrument at Hogwarts either played piano or violin, Avis included. She didn't like to include herself in the category of "normal," and it wasn't as if she was, with her clarinet, sax, and trumpet, but she did play piano.
As she listened from just outside the ballroom, Avis found herself humming once again, this time not along with the melody, but as a harmony counter to it.
She didn't want to play such a bland instrument as a piano in front of such a grand piece of a cello, but she wasn't great at clarinet and it would take a genius much more musical than Avis to make a trumpet fit a cello. Alas, the piano it would have to be. She cracked open the grand doors to the ballroom just enough to slip inside. She offered a nod to the kid sitting on the stool in the middle of the room, before turning and offering a small curtesy to a small portrait of a ballerina along the walls.
She then crossed the room to the piano (of which I am taking the creative liberty of assuming Hogwarts has a piano) and settled herself into the bench, running her fingers along the keys until they found a good place to start. She closed her eyes a moment, allowing the music to stretch back into her brain, before starting a harmony countering the cellos melody.
It took a moment and a few wrong notes - which Avis winced at - to match the key and rythm of the cello, but once she found it, her fingers danced across the piano, softly playing, lifting the melody higher into the song as the music flowed throughout the large room.
@Ruth Fairchild, @Clément Guillaume Cantegrel, @Devon Wallen
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
Music is the Strongest Form of Magic
Reducio@Clément Guillaume Cantegrel, @Avis Marlong, @Ruth Fairchild
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ReducioSpeech: #8e19d7
Thoughts: italics
The night had been … problematic. The Spring Sorée was not what she expected at all. Quite frankly, Devon’s reception in the Great Hall during the ball was rather … lukewarm at best, in her opinion. The worst part was that she was merely trying to talk to other people … and maybe even dance a little. Sadly, she didn’t know many people at Hogwarts to have even made plans with others. As it was, her best friend, a cute Slytherin girl named Kaitlyn, was participating in the Twisted Tavern. Devon wasn’t the type of girl to claim to need her friends watching over her all the time, so she encouraged her bestie to partake in the escape room-sounding event. Devon had to admit, it sounded pretty cool. She had to hope that Kaitlyn had a better time than her.
Then came the Garden of Eden afterward. It literally went up in smoke, catching fire and scorching everything. All the while, Devon hadn’t gotten a chance to dance. A real travesty, really. The young Horned Serpent was used to dancing around others in recitals. Not to mention having helped plenty of other young girls with their dances. She wouldn’t say that she was an expert, nowhere near it! But she knew how to dance. That much was true. So, she was disappointed that none of the girls she talked to wanted to dance with her.
Thankfully, the young Ilvermorny student was unharmed during the night’s events. But, they made her want more. She wanted an opportunity to dance. Thankfully, her mind recalled a conversation with her bestie. Hogwarts had a ballroom. ‘I should ask Kaitlyn to dance with me there sometime. Something tells me that we’d have fun together,’ she thought with a smile, as she walked down the hallway.
Glancing around, worry etched in Devon’s green eyes. ‘Wait, where was the ballroom again? Ah, I shouldn’t have tried to find it without Kaitlyn … fudge … I also don’t remember where Kaitlyn’s Common Room even is … if she’s even back yet. Ugh, I hope I can find a Hogwarts student to help,’ she frowned. She could hear the faint sounds of …. oh! Of a cello and a … ah, yes, a piano. Naturally, she had no idea where these were coming from. ‘Aw, the sounds of these instruments make me wish I brought my violin up here.’
Feeling self-conscious, Devon glanced at her sandals gently tapping against the hallway as she moved. Her hands instantly played with a few stray strands of her blonde hair. ‘As much as I enjoy being independent … and hate bothering people … hmm, I really need to learn when to ask for help. All those times I fell off my broom should’ve taught me that by now…’ She let out a quiet sigh. ‘Maybe if I could find who is playing those instruments, I could ask where to find the ballroom.’ With her mind set, she skipped toward where the music was coming from.
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